Happy Fall

There are a lot of choices for the "first day of fall."  There's the autumnal equinox, which, of course, is the only right answer; there's the day after labor day, which, in my opinion, is pushing the matter; there's the day when all the TV shows come back on; and then there's today.  What is today you might ask?  Well, it is the full harvest moon (that might have been yesterday...), but more importantly it is the first day that I want to curl up on the couch with a brandied, spiced apple cider.

I love fall.

I'm pretty sure that you can go back over each change of the season and find a post where I said "I love X.  X is my favorite season."  So I won't say that anymore.  All of the seasons are good.  All of the seasons have their good sides.  Even winter in Wisconsin can be glorious.  I love snow.  I enjoy sweaters.  I own about 20 more winter coats than is necessary for any human being, so I must enjoy that...  Even the terrible Wisconsin winter has it's benefits.

I think that one of the things that makes Fall in Wisconsin so special (and spring for the same reason) is that it's so short.  It's pretty hard to get sick of something that's less than a month long.  Summer is awesome and amazing and I love being warm all the time, until the fifth or sixth 90 plus degree night, and then I'm basically done with that shit.

Fall brings into play some of my favorite foods.  Stews, and braises, and pumpkin.  It's a good time.

It's not quite time to take the gardens down yet, but we're almost there.  I've got a nice crop of spinach and kale coming up in the back porch container garden.  I'm hoping that, when it gets even cooler, I can move those containers into the greenhouse I've got going on the back porch.  Maybe with the help of a light bulb I can grow my own spinach through most of the winter.  It's worth a try at least.

I've got four nice sized pumpkins out in the garden, hardening off on the vine, and two that I already picked.  I think I've picked (and pretty much eaten) all of the spaghetti squash.  I've got no way to know how many acorn squash are twisted among the green tomatoes.  I thought I planted butternut squash too, but I'm not finding any so I guess I didn't.  I'll have to pick some up at the farmer's market.

If you were around this time last year, I gave a bit of an ode to pumpkin.  I enjoy squash much more than I ever did as a child.  It's so versatile - there's really nothing you can't do with it.

I don't know if I can explain it, but I feel like there's also something that's just really appealing about squash.  It resonates with my inner food hoarder, I guess.  Here's a food that preserves itself - no canning required.  And then there's the fact that one seed can get you 25 acorn squash that will last all winter.  And on top of that, it tastes good.  But maybe even better, it doesn't taste like much, which means you can do whatever you want with it.  Creamy, mild, butternut squash soup?  Done.  Pie?  Of course.  Fiery hot spice to work out a head cold?  Why not!

This year, the pumpkin festivities started out with a pumpkin chicken curry, which unfortunately I do not have a picture for because I made it for the belly dancers at Tribal Union last weekend.  I'm not great at remembering to photograph when I'm hurrying to serve a large group (and getting changed into costume, stretching, applying large quantities of eyeliner, etc).  Plus, since we were mostly all eating it out of to-go containers, I probably wouldn't have gotten a great shot anyway.

But please don't let the lack of a photograph dissuade you.  This was a lightly curried dish with just a little bit of spice, balanced with the sweet of the pumpkin and the bitter of the kale.  The chicken is totally optional, and actually since you cook it ahead of time, you have the option of keeping it separate and letting people chose if they want to add it in.  I cooked it separately so I could use bone-in chicken breasts and thighs without the risk of bones in my curry.  Using the bone-in chicken as opposed to boneless helps the meat stay moist, and also it costs less which is a good thing when you're shelling out for the high quality meat.

If you want to make this vegetarian, just skip the chicken part, and replace the chicken stock with veggie stock.

My name is Miss Kitty, and I approve of this pumpkin.

Pumpkin Curry with Chicken and Kale
Serves 10-12

For the chicken:

• 4 bone in chicken thighs
• 2 bone in chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder 
• 1 cup apple cider
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 star anise
• 4 allspice berries

For the curry

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Thai bird chilies, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds removed if you're a wimp
• 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp of your favorite curry powder (I prefer the hot Madras curry powder from the Spice Hut)
• 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 8-10 cups cubed pumpkin
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups apple cider
• 6-8 cups kale, stems and veins removed, and torn into large pieces

• Brown rice for serving (optional)

Season chicken generously with salt, pepper, and olive oil.

In a heavy skillet over medium high heat, warm the oil.  Once hot, add the chicken and brown in batches.  Transfer to a slow cooker, add apple cider and spices, and cook on low for about 8 hours or until the chicken is falling off the bone.  Allow the chicken to cool and then shred.  This step can be done up to a few days in advance.

In a large skillet over low heat, combine olive oil and onion.  Sweat the onion (it shouldn't get brown or sizzle - just release water) until it is softened, about 20 minutes.  Increase the heat to medium high and add the garlic, chilies, mustard, curry, and ginger.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Saute until spices are fragrant - about three minutes.  Add the pumpkin, toss to combine, and transfer the whole mixture to a large slow cooker.  Add chicken stock and apple cider and cook on low for 8 hours, or until pumpkin is soft and the whole dance studio smells like delicious curry.  About 30 minutes before serving, stir in kale.  Serve over brown rice, if desired.

Put Up or Shut Up Episode 6: Tomatoes

Where did the locavore pirate purchase his vegetables?

 

Straight from the fAARRRRHHmer.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

I'm sorry I've been absent for so long.  I didn't even realize that it had been so long.  Canning season is in full swing, and it takes up a lot of my free time.  On top of that, my dance troupe has our "big show" of the year coming up this weekend, so I've been busy crafting things to sell.  (Yes, in addition to being a tremendously talented cook and witty blogger, I'm also quite handy with a crochet hook.  I am a woman of many talents - none of them exceptionally marketable...).  Make sure you come check us out at Tribal Union this Saturday.  It's going to be a sweet show.

Technically Fall starts on Saturday, but the chill of fall has been in the air the past few nights.  I woke up with cold toes this morning.  I like summer, and I like being warm, but fall is by far my favorite season in terms of both clothing (I love me a sweater dress!) and food.  There is nothing like a warm stew that's been in the crock pot or oven all day.  The oven now makes me even happier, since my wonderful mother got me one of these for my birthday:

Everything I make in it is automatically fancy.

And, with the end of summer and the start of fall, sadly and naturally comes the end of tomato season.  It's been a good year for tomatoes for me.  When we reach this point in the year, however, tomatoes start to turn a little ugly.  They get spots, or end up oddly shaped, or just don't taste as great as they did in the middle of the summer.  They tend to get soft spots easier.  They don't seem to last as long on the counter.

While sad, all of these things are good for you - the industrious, over achieving, borderline food hoarding, obsessive compulsive canner.

Oh, wait, that's not you, that's me!

Anyway, you should now be able to find a 10 or 20 lb box of tomatoes at your local farmer's market for far less than the normal price.  Some farmers also offer "seconds," which are those ugly tomatoes that you probably don't want to put on your BLT.  Okay, so you'll need to cut a few bruised spots off.  They're still good!

I do a few things with my tomatoes.  The first and easiest is to freeze them whole.  Just wash them and stick them into the freezer.  Once you've got a stack of them, I'd recommend putting them into freezer bags for long term storage.  Once you're ready to use them, just thaw them enough to cut them (I would cut them before they thaw all the way though, because they'll get mushy) and then use them in any recipe that calls for cooked tomatoes.  You don't want to eat them raw though - again when they thaw all the way they get really mushy and weird.  You can't tell the difference when they're cooked, though.

You can also use these tomatoes anywhere it calls for canned tomatoes.  And the skins remove really easily, too.  Just throw them into a pot of boiling water fully frozen, and the skins pop right off on their own!  This also helps thaw them out enough to cut them too.

I tend to save tomatoes all summer this way.  When I've got a big stack, and one or two looks like it's going to get old before I can eat it, I just throw it in the freezer.  I'm up to about 3 and a half gallon freezer bags.

This year, for the first time, I've also canned whole and diced tomatoes.  I haven't done this in the past because it seemed like a waste of canning time - since the frozen tomatoes can be used in place of both of these items.  But, I found the frozen tomatoes were taking up too much room in my freezer.  And, on top of that, when I'm making something in the crock pot in the morning before work I don't always have time/want to make the time to be dealing with frozen tomatoes.  It'll be nice to just dump a jar of tomatoes into the crock pot and go.

Spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, and salsa rounded out my "regular" tomato canning.  One thing I did this year that I didn't do last year was I saved all the skins from all the tomatoes I canned, and threw them into the pot when making my tomato sauce.  I really felt it thickened the sauce up and gave it an extra tomato-y texture.  It also made me feel good to think I was getting as much as possible out of all parts of the tomato.

I say "regular" tomato canning, because this doesn't include the green tomatoes.  Green tomatoes are, in my opinion, highly undervalued.  Fried green tomatoes are not even close to being the best thing about green tomatoes.  First off, you can pickle them. Pickled green tomatoes are an amazing treat.  I've made a winter caprese salad (that's your tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil salad) using pickled green tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes.  They're also good for just eating.

But maybe you don't like pickled things the way I do.  That's fine (you're wrong, but it's fine).  Here's another suggestion.  This may be hailed as food blasphemy, but you can also can whole green tomatoes and substitute them for canned tomatillos.  They're not going to be exactly the same - they're not as tangy or as acidic.  If you are going to substitute them, I would recommend adding a good amount of lime juice to up the sass, but I can't find local tomatillos for less than $4.99 a pound, and that's far too much when I need a bunch for my famous green pork chili.  So I'm going to substitute green tomatoes, and it's going to be amazing.  If you've got a problem with that, you don't get any chili!

So pick up some tomato seconds at the farmer's market, and get canning!

Canned Whole Tomatoes - Red or Green (or yellow.  Or orange.  Or whatever)
For each Quart of Tomatoes:

• 3 pounds tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice 

 Remove the skins from the tomatoes by boiling briefly and dipping in ice water.  (We've been talking about this for a year now - do I really need to explain it to you?)

Put 2 tablespoons lemon juice into a one quart jar.  Pack the tomatoes into the jar one at a time, pressing firmly enough to compress the hollow core and release enough juice to cover the tomatoes, but not enough to crush the fruit.  Continue to pack the tomatoes in this manner, pressing out any air pockets.  Tomatoes should be covered by 1/2 inch with their liquid.  Leave 1/2 inch of headspace between the top of the liquid and the lid.  Top with a little boiling water, if necessary, to achieve the proper headspace.

Use the boiling water method and process jars for 85 minutes.  Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and let jars rest in the water for 5 minutes.

If you are using green tomatoes to substitute for tomatillos, consider replacing the lemon juice with lime juice.

Canned Diced Tomatoes
Same as above, but dice the tomatoes instead of pushing them into the jars.  Save the any tomato juice to cover the tomatoes in the jar.

Chunky Spaghetti Sauce
Makes about 8 Quarts

• 20 lbs of tomatoes (preferably plum or Roma)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb onions, diced
• 1 head garlic, peeled and minced
• 4 large carrots, diced
• 4 large green peppers
• 1 cup fresh oregano
• 3 tablespoons bottled lemon juice per quart
• 1 tsp salt per quart
• 1 bay leaf per quart

 Blanch and shock tomatoes to remove peels.  Dice into about 1 inch cubes, and set aside.

In a large pot, sweat down onions over low heat until soft and translucent - about 15 minutes.  Raise heat to medium, add garlic, carrots, and peppers, and saute until veggies are soft, about 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes and oregano and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a low and simmer for 1 hour.  The sauce should be reduced and slightly thickened.

Ladle into jars (adding lemon juice, salt, and bay leaf), leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Process using the boiling water method for 45 minutes.  Turn off heat, remove the lid from the canner, and let the jars rest in the water for 5 minutes.

Tomato Basil Sauce
Makes about 6 pints

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 head garlic, chopped
• 10 lbs tomatoes, cut into large chunks (don't worry about the skins this time)
• Any skins you have from other tomatoes you've canned (you can freeze these to use later, too)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

In a large pot, warm the oil over low heat.  Add the onions and sweat until soft and translucent, about 15 minutes.  Increase the heat to medium, add the garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes longer.

Add the tomatoes, skins, and wine and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced and thickened - about 1 hour.

Pass the tomato mixture through a mesh sieve set over a clean, large pot.  I like to really work the remaining solids to work out any pulp in order to get a thicker sauce but that is your choice.  Bring the tomato sauce back to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.  Stir in the basil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Ladle the sauce into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace.  Process using the boiling water method for 30 minutes. 

Tomato Basil Sauce (front) and Chunky Spaghetti
Sauce (back) in progress.  I need bigger pots...

Heirloom Tomato Salsa
Makes about 7 pints
Using a variety of tomatoes in different colors creates a pretty salsa, but isn't necessary.

• 1 cup white viegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 3 lbs heirloom tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 pounds onions, diced
• 1 to 2 hot peppers of your favorite variety, diced
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Bring the vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil in a large, nonreactive sauce pan.  add the tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and return to a boil for 5 minutes.  Add the cilantro and remove from the heat.

Ladle into clean hot pint or half pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Process for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat, remove the canner lid, and let rest in the water for 5 minutes.

Pickled Green Tomatoes
Makes 6 pints (use pints or half pints)

• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• 12 bay leaves
• 24 cloves garlic
• 3/4 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp dried oregeno
• 1 small yellow onion cut into thin slices
• 12 small hot peppers (optional)
• 6 cups green tomatoes, cut into large chunks or slices (or use whole cherry tomatoes)

In a large pot, combine the vinegar and salt.  Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the salt.

Meanwhile, divide bay leaves, garlic, spices, and onion amongst jars.  Pack tomatoes tightly into the jars, within one inch of the rims.  Ladle the boiling brine into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.  Wipe the rims and seal tightly.  Because of the high level of acidity, these pickles do not require a boiling water bath - but make sure the brine is boiling when you ladle it in so they seal properly.

Let the jars sit for at least two weeks for flavors to develop.